Highly placed sources at SBI told The Financial Express that the closures and mergers will take place in phases. Already, the management has issued a notice for the merger of Amherst Street branch with Maniktala branch and that at Dinendra Street with the Grey Street branch here.

Meanwhile, the management, after relieving the successful applicants for its voluntary retirement scheme, has decided to declare as surplus 30 per cent of the officers under the central office, and transfer them to feed the Hyderabad and Kochi circles. The management apprehends that the Hyderabad and Kochi circles will suffer from acute shortage of officers, since more than half the officers there have opted for the VRS. The central office of the SBI consists of a zonal inspection department, staff colleges at Gurgaon and Hyderabad, the foreign departments at Kolkata and Mumbai, central accounts and central stores.

SBI sources said that according to preliminary plans, the foreign and zonal inspection departments will be left untouched and the 30 per cent excess strength will be declared in the other departments.

The chief general managers of all circles except Hyderabad and Kochi have been told that there should not be any reinstatement of officers or staff whatever the outcome of the VRS.